---
product_id: 4177100
title: "Play It As It Lays (FSG Classics)"
price: "€ 22.73"
currency: EUR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 9
url: https://www.desertcart.de/products/4177100-play-it-as-it-lays-fsg-classics
store_origin: DE
region: Germany
---

# Play It As It Lays (FSG Classics)

**Price:** € 22.73
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## Description

Play It As It Lays (FSG Classics) [Didion, Joan] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Play It As It Lays (FSG Classics)

Review: Why Not - That alternate world we know as "Hollywood" has always fascinated me, so I had no problem getting interested in this book. It's definitely not for everyone, but if you can accept people and things for what they are ("play it as it lays") without too many moral judgments; and, if it doesn't bother you to read about things like unconventional behavior, vague reality, desolation and despair; then you just might like it. I find myself very sympathetic to the main character, actress Maria Wyeth, and her friend, BZ, a producer involved in her personal life. I relate to many of their feelings and actions. Others will find them guilty of a good deal of wrongdoing. But I say, remove the blinders and you may see yourself in these pages. Technically, the book is an easy read. The prose is concise - one short sentence can generate a volume of pictures - and loaded with bitter wit. One more thing: if, as I have read, this is supposed to be a depiction of the crass and empty society of the late 60's, I don't find that our society has made any progress, since today's average American aspires to little more than owning a gas-guzzling SUV, staying attached to a cell phone and vacationing in DisneyWorld. I'll put today's crassness and emptiness up against that of the 60's any day.
Review: Hollywood-dark and Upsetting, but Such Superb and Skillful Writing, too. - This is a dark story of clashes especially where a woman and the society she is part of clash. The clash is also in this reader’s opinion and what is within this book. It is where the compelling and the grating clash. Yet, the most profound clash is inside the main character Maria. Maria Wyeth is a model and a star, married to Carter Lang, a producer. Their daughter Kate has something wrong with her brain and is put in a special-care institution. Either Kate’s dilemma or the crazy life of the movie business, filled with drugs, sex, and drinking, affects Maria negatively. Not that she doesn’t go along with it. She does everything everyone else does, but she loses herself as the result. Eventually, her marriage fails; she has an abortion and it is beginning of the end for her. What was touching was the relationship between Carter and Maria, two people who really cared for each other but couldn’t make it. They had too much of the Hollywood, other men, other women, and everything destructive coming in between them. Thus, the actress who could make it didn’t make it in any way. On the contrary, insanity claimed her. Ultimately, what Maria did or didn’t do is not the story, but what goes on inside her is. This, the author makes sure the reader feels deeply. Then, what is so amazing is, despite such a dark, dreary, and woebegone plot, the author’s vision of fiction and her crisp and precise writing style dazzle and stun the reader. Did I enjoy the book? No. I don’t like to read about ruined people. But I couldn’t not-finish it either because of the superb writing and the clear insight of the author into her protagonist. At the end, I am really glad I read this book.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #14,099 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #66 in Classic American Literature #418 in Classic Literature & Fiction #998 in Literary Fiction (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars (4,181) |
| Dimensions  | 5.5 x 0.57 x 8.25 inches |
| Edition  | 2nd |
| ISBN-10  | 0374529949 |
| ISBN-13  | 978-0374529949 |
| Item Weight  | 7.7 ounces |
| Language  | English |
| Print length  | 240 pages |
| Publication date  | November 15, 2005 |
| Publisher  | Farrar, Straus and Giroux |

## Images

![Play It As It Lays (FSG Classics) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41YZV+I20dL.jpg)
![Play It As It Lays (FSG Classics) - Image 2](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41u2QJsOSXL.jpg)
![Play It As It Lays (FSG Classics) - Image 3](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71-UeTS42TL.jpg)
![Play It As It Lays (FSG Classics) - Image 4](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81U-NNINSEL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Why Not
*by S***A on May 6, 2006*

That alternate world we know as "Hollywood" has always fascinated me, so I had no problem getting interested in this book. It's definitely not for everyone, but if you can accept people and things for what they are ("play it as it lays") without too many moral judgments; and, if it doesn't bother you to read about things like unconventional behavior, vague reality, desolation and despair; then you just might like it. I find myself very sympathetic to the main character, actress Maria Wyeth, and her friend, BZ, a producer involved in her personal life. I relate to many of their feelings and actions. Others will find them guilty of a good deal of wrongdoing. But I say, remove the blinders and you may see yourself in these pages. Technically, the book is an easy read. The prose is concise - one short sentence can generate a volume of pictures - and loaded with bitter wit. One more thing: if, as I have read, this is supposed to be a depiction of the crass and empty society of the late 60's, I don't find that our society has made any progress, since today's average American aspires to little more than owning a gas-guzzling SUV, staying attached to a cell phone and vacationing in DisneyWorld. I'll put today's crassness and emptiness up against that of the 60's any day.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Hollywood-dark and Upsetting, but Such Superb and Skillful Writing, too.
*by J***L on September 25, 2020*

This is a dark story of clashes especially where a woman and the society she is part of clash. The clash is also in this reader’s opinion and what is within this book. It is where the compelling and the grating clash. Yet, the most profound clash is inside the main character Maria. Maria Wyeth is a model and a star, married to Carter Lang, a producer. Their daughter Kate has something wrong with her brain and is put in a special-care institution. Either Kate’s dilemma or the crazy life of the movie business, filled with drugs, sex, and drinking, affects Maria negatively. Not that she doesn’t go along with it. She does everything everyone else does, but she loses herself as the result. Eventually, her marriage fails; she has an abortion and it is beginning of the end for her. What was touching was the relationship between Carter and Maria, two people who really cared for each other but couldn’t make it. They had too much of the Hollywood, other men, other women, and everything destructive coming in between them. Thus, the actress who could make it didn’t make it in any way. On the contrary, insanity claimed her. Ultimately, what Maria did or didn’t do is not the story, but what goes on inside her is. This, the author makes sure the reader feels deeply. Then, what is so amazing is, despite such a dark, dreary, and woebegone plot, the author’s vision of fiction and her crisp and precise writing style dazzle and stun the reader. Did I enjoy the book? No. I don’t like to read about ruined people. But I couldn’t not-finish it either because of the superb writing and the clear insight of the author into her protagonist. At the end, I am really glad I read this book.

### ⭐⭐⭐ A Beautiful Disaster
*by B***E on September 26, 2014*

I originally discovered Play It as It Lays on a list of books that everyone should read at some point in their life. Thinking this was a pretty prestigious distinction, I quickly tried to find it in a local store or thrift shop. Turns out, this book was a lot harder to find than others (not even on Kindle!), making me want it that much more. A novel in snippets, Joan Didion’s Play It as It Lays begins with three passages that are narrated in first person by three of the main characters- Maria, her husband Carter, and their friend Helene. The rest of the book is comprised of 84 pieces of lyrical prose written in the third person from Maria’s point of view. What emerges from these pieces is a glimpse into the blurry world of a depressed, would-be starlet, wife, and mother whose world has essentially fallen apart and stopped. It seemed to me that Maria is an actress with nothing but a lot of money and a lot of time on her hands. She is a beautiful woman with blank eyes that cares about nothing and no one. Her world is bleak and is one you shouldn’t visit for too long otherwise it will completely suck the life out of you. This book made me feel the same way that The Bell Jar did- totally hopeless. Aside from the beautiful lyrical prose Didion presents, I think the inner struggle in Maria is what makes the story worth reading. The book covers topics such as depression, drugs, abortion, and affairs. Keep in mind that this book first came out in the 1970’s, and think of what a shock this must have been. I imagine women and their friends secretly passed this book around in a shushed manner, gossiping and discussing the taboo topics Didion covered. This book was the hangover of a 1970’s Hollywood party- the booze wasn’t strong enough, cars not fast enough, and people not interesting enough anymore. There was bleakness to the world after everyone partied too hard for too long and Maria was the perfect person to portray that through. This book was simply an ugly, beautiful disaster. And Didion put it all down on paper for us to be depressed about for years to come.

## Frequently Bought Together

- Play It As It Lays (FSG Classics)
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*Store origin: DE*
*Last updated: 2026-01-27*